A teenage knight sets out to rescue a princess kidnapped by a dragon and discovers that compromise will (sometimes) solve more problems than violence. So eager is Crum to make this worthy point, however, that she’s neglected to embed it in a tale that has much to offer beyond trite story elements and scenes more described than experienced. Stout heart beating in a pipsqueak body, Thomas rises speedily from leatherworker’s son to Knight of the Realm, then borrows a donkey to chase after the dragon who has seized the aging King’s only daughter. Along the way, Thomas loses his sword, donkey and much of his clothing, reaching the dragon’s lair to discover that Princess Eleanor was taken to be nanny to a gang of cute-as-puppies dragon hatchlings. Being the eldest of ten siblings, Thomas expertly lands a hand—and as courage, honesty and courtesy are his only remaining “weapons,” the dragonlings’ huge mom obligingly limits herself to the same for their climactic competition. Fans of Gerald Morris’s similar tales of knightly morality will find this one disappointingly thin. (Fantasy. 10-12)
